grey area question

[HankB]

You have to evaluate your own level of risk. I will notadvocate breaking the law, but here are a couple of questions you might ask yourself:

1. How frequently have you been stopped and frisked by an LEO in the past?

2. Is there any reason to believe you would be stopped and frisked more often in the future?

[03Lightningrocks]

Depending upon the crime in your area and the security provided by the owner and/or manager, you may have grounds to get out of the lease. Contact an attorney in your area.

BTW, if you do open-carry in the common areas, you're going to quickly find out that the common areas are not "your property" for purposes of TPC §46.02. In order to be "your property" the property has to be owned by you or under your control. The right to enter and use the "common area" is not tantamount to being able to control it.

Chas.

Sec. 46.02. UNLAWFUL CARRYING WEAPONS. (a) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly carries on or about his or her person a handgun, illegal knife, or club if the person is not:

• (1) on the person’s own premises or premises under the person’s control; or
  
  (2) inside of or directly en route to a motor vehicle that is owned by the person or under the person’s control.

(Emphasis added)

This is exactly how I got out of a lease at an apartment complex in Austin. My son had just moved in. His third year at UT. A month goes by and during that month parties of every magnitude were a nightly event. His car was broken into. The final straw was when a student in the apartment backing up to his was murdered. Shot in the back of the head. Turned out a drug deal gone bad. Anyway...the next weekend I moved him out of there. They tried to play hardball so I had my attorney take care of it. I was released from the lease with 11 months due on it. My total cost was about 650 dollars. It was alot but it was better than the seven thousand they were threatening to sue me for. I had video taped gang graffiti around the complex. I video taped how dark the place was at night. They would not budge until a few contacts with my attorney. We never even had to show them the video. They knew the place was dangerous.

[Dexdahex]

Is your life or the life of a loved one worth a class "A" misdemeanor? You have every reason to keep the gun with you at all times.

The only grey area I see is the foolish restrictions we put up with concerning our right under the 2nd amendment.

i agree with Alan .

if it were me under those circumstances, i would just keep it hidden while doing my business on the property .
it may not be "legal" , but the bad guys are not exactly playing by the rules either .

JMHO...

Read in between line...I will protect my family and myself @ all cost...

IMHO

[Rusty]

I'm no lawyer,but I think that it is a "defense of prosecution" to carry from your home to your car.If you had to use the weapon,can you convince the LEO that you were taking it to your car?

[Liberty]

I'm no lawyer,but I think that it is a "defense of prosecution" to carry from your home to your car.If you had to use the weapon,can you convince the LEO that you were taking it to your car?

Maybe or maybe not.
Its a misdemeanor charge and the shooter could have survived to face the charges.
Its all about perspective. in this case a potential legal hassle or survival. I'm glad I don't have to make these decisions, my life and environs are pretty safe, and I have my CHL.

[A-R]

Depending upon the crime in your area and the security provided by the owner and/or manager, you may have grounds to get out of the lease. Contact an attorney in your area.

BTW, if you do open-carry in the common areas, you're going to quickly find out that the common areas are not "your property" for purposes of TPC §46.02. In order to be "your property" the property has to be owned by you or under your control. The right to enter and use the "common area" is not tantamount to being able to control it.

Chas.

May I just say that everyone (OP especially) should carefully read Charles' post. IANAL, but I do work in real estate, and from the training and knowledge I have of property issues (again, NOT A LAWYER), he is exactly right. You likely do have grounds to get out of the lease, consult an attorney and work toward that resolution quickly. Why would you want to stay in a crime-infested complex if you didn't have to, regardless of your ability to legally carry a weapon? Caveat: I do understand that consulting an attorney could be cost-prohibitive.

He is also exactly right that the "property under your control" is paramount in this case. As I understand it (third time, IANAL), you can legally carry within the walls of your apartment unit and nowhere else (unless, as stated, you're walking to and from your vehicle). So there is no legal basis for a non-CHL to be roaming the common grounds of an apartment with a concealed handgun. If you rented a "single family residence" (a house), my understanding is you could legally carry within the property lines of that property. A multi-family property (duplex, triplex etc) is a bit more of a grey area.

Other posters have made decent suggestion in a dire situation that you could open carry a long gun, but this is not without it's own potential pitfalls - scare your neighbors enough and you could conceivably get some sort of "distrurbing the peace" charge from an over-active LEO.

Again, my suggestion would be to do everything you can to get out of the lease and out of that apartment complex.

[TTUchris]

Thanks for all the suggestions. My fiance's best friend is an attorney who has now written a letter to the complex, so hopefully they will retreat a little and work with us. I guess I might not have made it very clear, but I will in no way be "roaming" the complex or hanging out outside carrying. I simply take the dog down the stairs to the grass below to do his business, then return. Or I take the trash about a hundred yards to the dumpster, then return. It isn't a particularly dangerous complex or area per se (Manvel, TX - suburb of Houston), but the shooting took place RIGHT outside our unit, and involved a neighbor. Our fear is that since he shot two people, there will be some sort of retaliation attempt. When you see bullet holes in the walls every time you leave or arrive at your dwelling, it keeps reminding you that there are bad people out there, and they are armed.